Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Big Bang Theory - Recap & Review - The Codpiece Topology

The Big Bang Theory"The Codpiece Topology"

Original Air Date: Sept 29, 2008

Theresa - TwoCents Staff Writertheresa@thetwocentscorp.com

This episode marks the return of Leslie Winkle (Sara Gilbert), now a regular character. We get to see more of her rivalry with Sheldon, and really, aside from their disagreement about what matter is made of, they're two of the most socially blunt people ever. Leonard and Penny are still circling each other, this time using other people to stir up jealousy, which is where Leslie comes in.

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This episode marks the return of Leslie Winkle (Sara Gilbert), now a regular character. We get to see more of her rivalry with Sheldon, and really, aside from their disagreement about what matter is made of, they're two of the most socially blunt people ever. Leonard and Penny are still circling each other, this time using other people to stir up jealousy, which is where Leslie comes in.

Penny comes upstairs with one of her usual male model types at the same time the guys are coming back from a terribly historically inaccurate Renaissance Faire. A chainmail-clad Leonard insists to his friends that it's not awkward and he's also moved on, he just hasn't asked anyone else out yet. In a sort of contrived joke, we find out that Raj once mistakenly kissed a guy in a slave girl costume at Comic-Con, and that's about it for him. Besides wearing a motley jester hat, Howard pretty much has nothing to do with this episode either.

Anyway, as luck would have it, Leslie Winkle has decided that she too must move on, from casual sex into a normal relationship - with Leonard! In her usual deadpan straightforward style, she more or less tells Leonard that he is a nice boring guy to settle down with, and they start dating. Sara Gilbert's transitions from flat affect to high-pitched "Call me!" are a great running joke, perfectly timed. After their first evening together, they again meet Penny and her date in the hallway, and surprisingly Penny is trying to explain the Schrodinger's cat experiment to him. Looks like Penny really is moving away from being a dumb stereotype who dates pretty boys - maybe. Leonard and Penny have an improptu goodnight-kiss-off with their respective dates, trying to make the other jealous with their makeout sessions.

In the meantime, because of the burgeoning relationship of L-Squared, Sheldon finds himself in a position he never expected: sexiled. Never mind that he's none too happy about Leonard dating his arch-nemesis (who has sloppy research methodology, mind you), now he has to park himself on the stairs all night with only a poorly coded Nintendo-64 emulator to keep him company. (And by the way, writers, no self-respecting geek would call N64 "old-school", especially when mentioning Super Mario Bros!) Finally, one of his interruptions leads to the deal-breaking revelation that while Leslie very emphatically supports loop quantum gravity theory, Leonard sides with Sheldon and leans more toward string theory. Leslie storms out horrified, which I'm pretty sure was precisely Sheldon's plan. In the end, Sheldon gets Leonard and his space in the apartment back, and even gets to go to the Ren Faire as Spock exploring an unknown planet.

So what did you think - do you want Leonard with Leslie? How about Sheldon and Leslie's insult volleys? And do you think Leonard will ever look straight ahead? Leave your Two Cents in the comments after the little quote recap.

Some of the episode's best lines:Sheldon: Bosoms would not have said 'Howdy' in the 15th century; if anything, they would have said 'Huzzah'.Howard: I don't care what the bosoms say, Sheldon, I just want to be part of the conversation.

Penny: Well, why don't you go to a coffee shop?Sheldon: I don't drink coffee.Penny: They have other things.Sheldon: (pauses game) What do they have?Penny: I don't know, cookies, pastries...Sheldon: Pastries such as bear claws?Penny: Yeah, sure.Sheldon: I don't like bear claws. (restarts game)

Sheldon: Balderdash, matter clearly consists of tiny strings.Leslie (to Leonard): Are you gonna let him talk to me like that?